Indian Shares Firmly Down In Negative Territory; Infosys Tumbles On Results

(RTTNews) - The Indian stock markets, back to work Monday morning after a long weekend, are down firmly in negative territory, weighed down by losses in the technology sector after Infosys reported a drop in fourth quarter earnings.

Rising concerns about a potential recession in in the U.S. later this year, and uncertainty about interest rate hikes by the Fed also hurt sentiment.

The benchmark BSE Sensex, which plummeted to 59,442.47, losing nearly 1,000 points in the process, is currently dwn 624.67 points or 1.03% at 59,806.33. The broader Nifty 50 index of the National Stock Exchange is down 155.90 points or 0.88% at 17,672.10, nearly 100 points off a low of 17,574.05 it touched earlier in the session.

Technology stocks, led by bellwether Infosys, are down sharply, contributing substantially to market's slide.

Infosys shares plunged more than 11% after the company reported a 7% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,128 crore in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, over the preceding quarter. On yearly basis, the company's net profit increased by 7.8% in the fourth quarter.

Infosys has issued a revenue growth guidance of 4% - 7% in constant currency and operating margin guidance of 20%- 22% for FY 2023-24.

MindTree is down nearly 8%. Tech Mahindra is declining 6%, L&T Infotech is down 5.5%, Mphasis is lower by 4.2% and HCL Technologies is losing around 3.2%. Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services are down 3% and 2.7%, respectively.

Among other major losers, Larsen & Toubro is down by about 2.1%, HDFC is down 2%, HDFC Bank is lower by 1.6%, Bharti Airtel is down 1.2% and NTPC is declining 1.1%.

Divi's Laboratories, Cipla, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, Tata Steel, Tata Consumer Products and JSW Steel rae down with sharp to moderate losses.

Power Grid Corporation is rising 2.6%, Nestle is advancing 2.5% and UltraTech Cement is climbing 2%, while Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, ITC and Hindustan Unilever are down 1 to 1.6%.

Britannia Industries is gaining 2.6%. Hindalco, SBI Life, Titan, Coal India, Grasim Industries and Eicher Motors are modestly higher.